The spring semester has been over for several weeks now, but what with final papers and family travel, I haven’t been able to post until now. Overall, it was a good, relatively stress-free semester, because I was only taking two classes. That said, it was an important semester for three main reasons: Firstly, I defended my prelims and am now officially ABD. Secondly, it was my last year serving as an officer (President) of the Purdue Linguistics Association, as next semester I cannot be as involved in our student organization. Finally, it was my fifth and last semester (for now, at least) as an instructor of Introduction to Linguistics. I absolutely love teaching linguistics to undergraduates and I will miss my Intro students dearly.

The reason I will not be teaching linguistics in the fall is because I was offered to teach a section of First Year Composition to International Students. As I want to get more hands-on experience in college-level ESL, I am delighted at this opportunity and excited to teach a whole class of international students. Although I have worked and volunteered as an English tutor before, this will be my first time working as a formal/paid instructor; it will be a challenge, but a welcome one! In addition to working half-time in the English department, I also received a quarter-time assistantship as a tutor at Purdue’s Oral English Proficiency Program (OEPP). What I like most about this arrangement is that I will be able to complement my writing instruction in the English department with oral language instruction at the OEPP, and thus get a valuable set of experiences in different areas of ESL.

Besides teaching in the fall, I will be finalizing my dissertation topic and, hopefully, defending my prospectus. I hope to get a head-start on my research this summer, as I was awarded the Purdue Research Foundation (PRF) grant to work toward my dissertation. The additional motivation will definitely help! For the next couple of months, I will also work as an ESL materials developer for Lumenus, an organization that overlooks intensive English language and college prep programs. This too as an amazing opportunity that I am extremely grateful for!

All and all, I am excited about this summer. I am currently visiting my family in Arizona and I have been enjoying the past couple of weeks because I got to see both of my brothers and do some traveling. However, my time here is almost over, as I will be back in Indiana on June 1st. I will miss the dry heat, but I am also looking forward to seeing my friends and colleagues at Purdue and to getting back into work-mode.

Until next time!